Slain Chicago teen was caught in middle of shooting

Kristen Mack, Tribune reporter

It was supposed to be a weekend of celebrations for Darrell "D.J." McKinney.

An older sister drove up from Tennessee to watch him play in the first football game of the season, his brother just returned from a monthlong basketball camp and his friend was holding a back-to-school block party.

McKinney, who was about to start his sophomore year at Orr Academy High School, was fatally shot at the Humboldt Park party Saturday night. He was the unintended target of gunfire.

The 15-year-old was on a sidewalk in the 900 block of North Harding Avenue about 8:40 p.m. when a suspect opened fire on another man during a foot chase, police said.

"Whoever they were shooting at, (they) missed, and those two bullets hit my baby," Vanessa McKinney said of her son, who was shot in the chest.

No one was in custody Sunday. Detectives continue to investigate the case, police said.

McKinney, the youngest of five siblings, went everywhere with his mother. Vanessa McKinney drove him to school and practice, and, on rare occasions, she let him attend parties like the one he went to Saturday. She took him to the party.

"We tried to keep him away from what's out there," she said. "He didn't go out. He didn't run the streets."

She dropped McKinney off about 7:30 p.m. He only planned to stay a little while and said he would call when he was ready to be picked up.

About the time Vanessa McKinney expected to hear from him, her phone rang. A friend called to tell her he'd been shot.

She jumped in the car and sped to the house.

"I just wanted to get to my son," she said.

As she pulled up to the house, the ambulance drove away. Police escorted her to Stroger Hospital, where her son was pronounced dead.

When she first heard the news, longtime family friend Gwendolyn Barnes wondered how McKinney could have become the random victim of violence.

"He was always with her," Barnes said of Vanessa McKinney on Sunday as the two women embraced and cried on the couch.

When Darrell McKinney wasn't at home playing games on his Xbox 360, watching YouTube videos or scrolling his Facebook page, he scanned the Internet for clips on his brother — a star player on the Orr basketball team, his mother said.

Mycheal Henry, 17, a University of Illinois recruit, served as his younger brother's inspiration, the family said.

"That was like my best friend," Henry said. "We talked about everything together."

All of the siblings were close. McKinney's oldest sister, Chiqualla Hawkins, 32, made the 10-hour drive from Chattanooga, Tenn., to attend his football game against Brother Rice High School on Friday.

"He asked me to be here," she said. "I didn't want to let him down."

Although they lost, 42-0, McKinney's family said, he was still in high spirits after the game.

Hawkins remembers her youngest brother as silly and outgoing. Their relationship was more like mother and son because of the age difference, she said. But McKinney still joked easily with her, mocking her Southern accent.

Although Vanessa McKinney grew up in Chattanooga, where McKinney also was born, she said she never considered leaving Chicago to raise her kids in the country. She just took extra precautions to make sure they were safe.

When Vanessa McKinney dropped her son off at the party Saturday, she paused and watched him for a while, she said. He looked back and smiled.